Mt. Isa

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Good to hear from you guys. It seems like it was just P-Day: that’s always a good feeling. I’m glad you saw the lovely flat (on Google Earth), it is nice and quiet and our neighbors are good for the most part. The lady next door is out every morning feeding the birds. We have a lot of different birds around here. Laidley is about a 10km drive from Plainlands where the Chapel is so as it turns out, we make the trip quite a bit for one reason or another. There is quite some number of members in Laidley but most are less-active or just 'do not visit' people. Most of our meals are away from Laidley which is good because we can work around where they live and then go to dinner. We drive to Church since we have a car; otherwise I'm not really sure what we would do.

(…back to the flat…) We usually park in the carport (at the flat) but since one Missionary has to back the other when reversing the car, a lot of the Elders in the past have just pulled up (on the lawn) to make it easier to get out. Over here people generally don't care as much about their lawns and parking the car on the lawn is fairly common. Whether it’s just parking where ever or being parked half on the lawn half on the street. The thing (double lot) on the other side of our house is basically someone’s junk pile/homemade snake pit. The big XXXX sign in the back of the neighbor’s yard is the biggest...one of the biggest brands of beer in Queensland; 'Four X'.

We just had a Missionary leave from the Ward. He's going to Perth which is in Western Australia. There's not much out there and it from what I hear a lot like Mt. Isa; mining industries and very rural and spread out. It was good to hear from the family of the Elder that is leaving.

Yes, it has been raining a good deal in the last couple of days. At least the heat isn't as bad as it was last week. Far out, that was bad. We haven't got the remote changed yet because there is not a place to do it around here, that we know of, so we'll have to see about it later; maybe next month…lol.

We had a busy week; a good deal of meetings and this and that to do. Here it the general run down. Thursday we had Interviews with Mission President and training by the other mission leadership. It went good. We rode the train into Ipswich which saved us km's and not to mention it was cool to relax and see the countryside.

Nothing happened at transfers my Comp and I are still together. That’s good,I guess I have a lot to learn from him as it would seem. Friday we had weekly planning. Saturday was deep clean. It was beautiful! The flat was a bomb and was just so messy, it was awful. Cob webs everywhere dust and nastiness. I can’t really explain. It just hadn't been really cleaned in months and months. Needless to say it is much cleaner now and I feel a lot better…lol. I must be crazy. I love deep clean. Yes, and your right, my Comp was not as keen to clean as I was. After about two hours he checked out. We didn't finish it on Saturday so we finished on Monday and that was basically the week. It was good fun. Transfers time is always stressful.

Not too much happening in the coming week. We got meals just about every day so that’s exciting. We are still trying to find people to teach and just follow up with those people we already have. Thanks for the package. I just got it and loved it. The Ranch (dressing mix) is going to be great with the fresh full cream milk we get from one of the members that own a dairy farm. Thanks for that. Miss you all and hope things go well. Love you all. Have a great week.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

It has been a long week. With P-Day being on Wednesday it takes a little bit extra of a push to get through but it was good. We didn't find a ride to go to the Temple (in Brisbane) but maybe next transfer.

(Below is a link to the Google Earth image of Kiefer's current flat. It will start out blurry but it takes some time to download all of the image, so be patient. How cool is it to actually see where he is living?!)

The week has been busy. Our flat has a pretty good yard to it, right and, the grass grows quite a bit when you just leave to grow, plus the rain and things too. Needless to say, our lawns were very overgrown and they needed to be cut. The real estate was nice enough to drop a little note that let us know we were in break of the lease agreement and we needed to cut the lawns. They were quite overgrown and it took us a good deal of time to get it under control and then some more time to get the edges cut. We really don’t have any equipment to cut it so finding a mower was fun. We got two mowers originally but as it turned out when we got them home neither worked. We had to call someone to come help us and he got one running but we still had quite a bit of lawn to cut. It was a big job. The flat in Laidley, probably the one with the white Corolla parked in front, on the lawn...the car isn't there (on Google Earth)…but you can see (the picture of) Jesus in the window. Funny thing, they had us take down the Jesus (pictures) in the flats for safety reasons…lol.

The flat is so dirty right now. This Saturday is deep clean. I'm keen to get it fixed up. The last two days have been scorchers it was 40 Celsius (100+ Fahrenheit) on Monday and about the same yesterday. We did what we could to stay out of the sun but we only have so many people to visit. I've been putting on sunscreen everyday though so no worries. I really don’t want to get burnt. Our flat has a/c but previous missionaries have lost the remote that controls the whole system so we can only turn it on and can’t adjust the settings at all. We'll be investing in a replacement remote ASAP...lol. It is hot! It’s supposed to be raining in the next couple of days, so that will, at least, make it cooler if anything. This last Sunday was good though we actually were really busy. My Companion had to give a blessing. After church we taught a random nonmember that was there and then gave him a blessing of comfort. We were leaving church when we were asked to give another blessing for sickness. Then we had to travel 30 minutes to have a lesson with an actual family that didn't fall though!!!! It was shocking. Honestly. But really it was a great blessing. They seem relatively interested and it was quite exciting. Sadly these were the first real sit-down lessons we've taught to a nonmember since I’ve been here but that’s life. We are hoping things will work out with these people.

Transfers are next week. My companion might be leaving so P-Day will be on Tuesday next week, just to give you a heads up. I hate change I’ve got to say. It will be a busy week to come. We have meals most days so that is great. Other than that, there is not much to report.

I haven't gotten any more packages but maybe I will tomorrow at interviews with (the Mission) President. Happy Birthday Colin and dad; I hope you get to do something special for the day. Love you all and talk to you next week.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Thanks for the emails. It is great to hear from you and it is back to the classic form of communication (email) lol.

Well today we're spending our P-day in Toowoomba. It is the new month and we have k's (kilometers/miles) we can use on the car and we don’t have to worry about running out until later. Which sadly we will probably run out later this month but anyways...

So Devan (Gardner) is going on a mission!!!!! Congratz! She'll do great as a missionary. It will be a hard mission for her, honestly, but she'll enjoy being in a foreign country and I reckon she adjust well. That is exciting to hear. Colin I need details…lol. (Devan, second girl from left, was in Fifth Ward with Kiefer. She and Kiefer went to Middle School, High School and Seminary together and both attend BYU.)

It has been a pretty normal week honestly. Monday was Elder Blackmore’s birthday and he kind of told everyone so we went over to a couple of people’s places to celebrate. All and all it wasn't too exciting though. Tuesday was a pretty normal work day. We visited some less actives most of the day and then did a little bit of finding. We had a trade off on Wednesday with the District Leader. That went well. We did a lot of finding that day and it was a warm one. Our dinner appointment forgot they were feeding us but they threw something together and we had something to eat luckily. Thursday was District Meeting in Toowoomba which is about a 45 minute drive from our flat. They had some birthday decorations for my birthday and we went and got some good food for lunch. It was nice. Other than that the rest of the day went about the same. It was kind of slow but that’s how it goes. We had dinner at the Bishop’s house and it seems as if they had forgetting until we called to remind them. That was interesting. He a good guy but just really busy and has like 6 kids that are relatively young. I've resolved to give people a little more advanced nice than what we have been doing. Friday was weekly planning which was a bit of a drag and then Saturday we got to do some service for a less active family which turned out to be pretty full-on but fun all the same. New Year’s Eve here involves, mostly, everyone getting wasted so we had to be in the flat by 5 pm on the 31st. That was nice. We had some ginger beers and some sparkling grape cider left from Christmas so that’s how we celebrated. It was a crazy night…not really though. I went to bed at 10:30 pm and didn't hear much after that. Yes, they do fireworks and stuff over here but since we're in the country it was pretty quiet. All the same I liked the extra sleep.

The next week looks busy so far. We have some training in Brisbane. I haven't got my (birthday) package yet but maybe I will when in Brisbane. Good luck back at Uni Colin, work hard, and enjoy your time there. Let me know how things are going for you. Love you all. Have a great week. TTYL

Two Years

This blog is dedicated to Kiefer and his work in the mission field for the next two years. November 2010 - November 2012

Mowing

Kiefer vs. the Paddock

Where in the world ...

Every Missionary loves a letter from a friend or family.

Mailing Address:

Elder Kiefer R. Hatch

Australia Brisbane Mission

P.O. Box 348

Hamilton

Brisbane, QLD 4007

Australia

Kiefer's is currently serving in Nerang which is part of the Gold Coast area of Queensland south of Brisbane. It is best to mail letters and (small) packages to the Mission home in Brisbane. Australian Customs opens and inspects all packages and their contents. Any non-commercially packaged food or questionable materials will be removed. I think want he would most appreciate are letters and pictures. It is best to take all letters and packages your friendly, neighborhood USPS because international mail has different regulations and costs that stateside mail. The Priority Flat-Rate options are the best. The USPS contracts all international mail through FedEx and the Flat-Rate options are the most reasonable cost-wise.

I have found that it takes about 10 days for Kiefer to receive a letter and a bit longer (depending on how long it takes in Customs) for him to receive a package.

The LDS Church also provides a "Pouch" system for single page, tri-folded letters adn requires only one US stamp. For instructions, please visit:

Kiefer's email is kiefer.hatch.@myldsmail.net. Please remember that he read his emails only once a week. Also, he has to pay to get a printed copy of emails and he has only one hour a week online. Mission rule allow him to email his immediate weekly but that is all. So don't feel neglected if he doesn't reply to your e-mail. He is not supposed to hence, this blog. Thanks!